National Nutrition Month

Categories

Recipes

The charm of living in a large agricultural state like Michigan is the many u-pick produce farms. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and cherries are some of my favorite fruits to pick, eat and preserve. Though, admittedly, I’m often an overzealous picker and end up with excess fruit. Freezing is always the easy route but I adore making jam and canning. Many, many jars of jam later, I realize I can only eat so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Naturally, I thought to bake with the extra homemade fruit jams.

Oatmeal Jam Bars

6 tablespoons butter, softened

½ cup light brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

¾ cup jam

Preheat oven to 350o. Combine butter and sugar in a mixer and beat until well combined. Add flour, baking soda and salt; stir until incorporated and crumbly. Stir in oats. Place 2/3 of oat mixture on bottom of 8-inch square baking pan lined with parchment paper. Top with jam and spread evenly. Press together the remaining oat mixture with your hands and place chunks of oats on top of jam to mostly cover. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until fruit is bubbly and top is golden.

Cook’s Note: Bake with your favorite flavor of jam or preserves. I used strawberry—made with strawberries from Middleton Berry Farm—and it was delicious. If the fruit is very thick, you can lightly warm in the microwave to be able to spread easily.

Here are some other great ideas for using up homemade fruit preserves, jellies and jams:

In the dessert category, use jam in layer cakes, filling for muffins and donuts, thumbprint cookies, cheesecake topping, ice cream sundae topping or layer into trifle. Kids would love the jam frozen into popsicles.

Beverages also make for great use of jams. You can stir the sweetened fruit into lemonade, ice tea or Italian soda. For the grownups, mixed into cocktails with your favorite spirit is delicious. Also, blend with yogurt or ice cream for a smoothie.

Breakfast is an easy way to use jam swirled into yogurt or oatmeal. It is also a great topping for biscuits, waffles or pancakes. If you are little more adventurous, try making stuffed French toast or crepes.

For the savory route, top baked brie, goat cheese or cream cheese with preserves. Spread in the middle of a stuffed pork loin or chicken breast, pour over a ham as a glaze or stir into barbeque sauce. Sometimes simple is best—just place jam in a small dish on a cheese platter.

Raspberries, peaches, pears, apples and cherries are all waiting to be picked right now at many local u-pick farms. Go to www.upickmichigan.com to find a place near you.

I now know why my neighbor kindly offered some of their raspberry plants for my garden. Raspberry plants have a habit of growing abundantly causing the need to share. Fast forward four years later and I now have a bounty of plants to manage all my own. Still not quite enough berries to preserve raspberry jam—though plenty to eat, share and bake.

Even my dogs have gotten into the joy of picking and eating fresh raspberries. They walk right out into the backyard with me patiently waiting for the few overripe, squishy raspberries to be thrown their way.

The raspberries that remain after snacking go right into my bakery items. Raspberry Dutch Baby—courtesy of Cooking Light—is a quick and easy breakfast favorite that can be made with any seasonal fruit. Delicious dusted with powdered sugar or drizzled with maple syrup, a Dutch Baby will be your go to family favorite. My raspberry chocolate chip muffins are also perfect for breakfast but freeze really well and can be eaten anytime. They are particularly good just slightly warm right out of the oven.

I stowed away a small container of fresh raspberries in my freezer for a sweet summer reminder during our extended Michigan winter. When ready to use, toss frozen raspberries lightly in flour and fold right into your baked good. Or use straight from the freezer in a thick and frosty smoothie.

Michigan summer raspberries are available for picking for about 2 to 3 weeks and are a wonderful addition to my home garden.

Raspberry Dutch Baby, Cooking Light Way to Bake, 2011

Ingredients

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon grated lemon rind

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup 2% reduced-fat milk

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup fresh raspberries

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions

Place a 9-inch cast-iron skillet in oven; preheat oven to 450o.

While pan heats, combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk. Add flour and milk to egg mixture, stirring with a whisk until smooth.

Melt butter in preheated pan, swirling to coat pan. Add batter; sprinkle with raspberries. Bake for 12 minutes or until puffed and browned.

Whisk together flour, pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Place eggs, sugar and brown sugar in another large bowl; whisk until well combined and light yellow. Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla to egg mixture and whisk to incorporate. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Gently fold in raspberries and chocolate chips. Place batter evenly into 18 muffin cups and sprinkle each muffin with sugar.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly golden on top and inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in muffin tin then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Yield: 18 muffins.

Last weekend I took a break from dinner duty. Forgoing the challenge of cooking a meal that tries to please everyone is a welcome change. Although we still are required to eat something and take-out food is underwhelming, I took the opportunity to prepare what my family calls “the meat and cheese board.” What this usually involves is a hard salami, smoked meat or sausage along with a variety of hard and soft cheeses. The add-ons depend on what is available and looks tasty. I use fruit spreads, crackers, olives, nuts or hummus.

I took great pleasure in making this particular platter because I used only products that were grown or produced in Michigan. Our great state is an agricultural goldmine and it is quite easy to find just what I needed. My Michigan smorgasbord contained three cheeses, two bratwursts, a fig spread, fruit and multigrain bread.

I shopped for all of these products at Argus Farm Stop in Ann Arbor. Argus Farm Stop is a direct-to-consumer market for local producers of vegetables, fruits, meats, baked goods, dairy and artisans. Open since August of 2014, this seemingly small market sells over 100 products from local farms and producers year round. These are all the wonderful products I brought home for dinner:

As the weather gets warmers and the days get longer, linger on the deck or porch with a glass of wine, good company and your artisan platter. It is a perfect no-cook dinner, yet still a filling, satisfying and local meal.

While patiently waiting to plant vegetables in my outdoor garden, the returning perennial herbs having kept me busy. Fresh thyme and chives have returned bountifully and can be found in many of the foods I prepare. Recently, the tops of the mild oniony fresh chive have a beautiful blossom. I have found a great use for these purple beauties that highlight the onion flavor along with the lovely color—chive blossom vinegar.

Place chive blossoms in a bowl of water and stir gently to remove dirt. Remove blossoms with a slotted spoon and place in a colander to drain; shaking gently to remove excess water. Pack blossoms into a clean pint jar; set aside. Heat vinegar in a small saucepan until hot, but not boiling. Pour warm vinegar into pint jar filled with chive blossoms. Press blossoms down with a spoon to immerse in vinegar; cool slightly. Top jar with parchment paper and screw on metal top. Place in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks then strain vinegar into a decorative bottle. Store in a cool, dark place and use within 6 months.

Cooking Note: Use the chive blossom vinegar to make vinaigrette with additional chopped chives from your garden. —Pam Aughe, R.D.

Last week I shopped at Flint Farmers’ Marketto make dinner for my family. Bulk barley from Flint River Farm, vegetables from M.T. Belly’s Produce and beef stew meat from Hoffman’s Chop Shop rounded out my home pantry to make a warm and hearty Market Beef Barley Soup. Change up your food shopping routine and visit Flint’s year round, downtown market on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Market Beef Barley Soup

Having a well-stocked pantry at home makes shopping for dinner easy. Use this Flint Farmers’ Market grocery list to purchase your fresh items.

Farmers’ Market

Pantry

Onion

Beef Stock

Celery

Canned Tomato Sauce

Garlic

Tomato Paste

Sweet Potato

Salt, Pepper, Dried Thyme, Dried Bay Leaf

Kale

Oil

Beef Stew Meat

Flour

Barley

Red Wine

Flint Farmers’ Market Beef Barley Soup

1 ½ tablespoons canola oil, divided

1 pound beef stew meat

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon kosher salt, divided

¼ + 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 whole dried bay leaf

¾ teaspoon dried thyme leaves

2 tablespoon tomato paste

½ cup red wine

5 cups beef stock, organic

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup uncooked pearl barley

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped

3 cups chopped kale

Place beef in a medium bowl and sprinkle with flour, ¼ teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper; toss to coat the beef; set aside. Place 1 tablespoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add beef in a single layer to hot Dutch oven and brown on all sides. Remove beef to a clean plate.